US walks back claim Iran 'has' arms program

The White House is quietly walking back a charge that Iran maintains an active nuclear weapons program, saying it really meant that Iran had one before the 2015 nuclear agreement.

A statement sent to reporters Monday by Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said a cache of Iranian documents released by Israel is "consistent with what the United States has long known: Iran has a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program."

But intelligence agencies in the US and overseas have stated that the 2015 nuclear deal has frozen Iran's nuclear program.

The version of Sanders' statement posted to the White House website has been modified to make clear Iran "had" such a program. The White House is calling it a "clerical error."